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THE HERO SERIES 




Class _Jp__4.j2.-i^ 
Book 2Ji 



Copyright ]^°. 



COPYRIGHT DEPOSm 



THE HERO SERIES 



WATERLOO 



BY 

JAMES F. RUSLING 

Author of " European Days and Ways." 




CINCINNATI: JENNINGS & GRAHAM 
NEW YORK : EATON & MAINS 



OCT 2B 1904 
eoPY B i 



COPYRIGHT, 1904, 
JENNINGS AND GRAHAM 






Waterloo 

Here Wellington stood against Napoleon, 
and whipped him, and drove him back into 
France, and out of Europe, and established 
the power and authority of the Anglo-Saxon 
race over the whole earth for a century nearly 
now. I think that was something to do ; and 
you can see it all here at Waterloo, if you have 
only the right kind of eyes to see. 

Waterloo itself is only a little typical Belgian 
village, of a few hundred inhabitants, strung 
along the Brussels and Charleroi road for a 
mile or two. It is three miles or more from 
the battlefield, and the great battle only hap- 
pened to be so called, because Wellington 
wrote his first dispatch home from there. It 
took him three days to get the news to Lon- 
don ; he could do it now in three minutes. But 
it soon set all England wild, and Europe as 
well. The French call it the battle of Mont 
3 



4 Wateri.00. 

St. Jean, because it really occurred there. But 
it got the name of Waterloo, and, though er- 
roneous, will so pass down the centuries. 

To understand Waterloo, one must go back 
to the beginning of the campaign; only a few 
days before, really. Napoleon had returned 
from Elba only three months before, and all 
Europe was up in arms against him, nearly a 
million of soldiers preparing to invade France. 
Quickly he recruited a great army again ; but 
where to strike first puzzled him. Finally he 
decided to move on Belgium, where the Eng- 
lish and Prussians lay, ready to march on Paris, 
and to separate and whip them in detail, if pos- 
sible, before turning his attention elsewhere. 
To do this, he must needs move quickly and 
secretly, and accordingly he ordered his army 
to assemble at Charleroi, Belgium, on the road 
to Brussels — about thirty miles from there — 
as speedily as possible. Here he himself joined, 
June 15th, while the English were assembling 
at Quatrebras, and the Prussians at Ligny, 
twenty-one and twenty-eight miles from Brus- 
sels respectively, to safe-guard the two main 



Waterloo. 5 

roads to Brussels. In round numbers he had 
one hundred and twenty-five thousand men, 
the Prussians one hundred and twenty-one 
thousand, and the EngUsh, or allies, ninety-four 
thousand. He ordered Ney to Quatrebras, 
eight or ten miles away, with forty-three thou- 
sand men, to watch Wellington and stand the 
English off, while he himself attacked Bliicher 
and his Prussians, June i6th, at Ligny, also 
eight or ten miles distant, and whipped them 
well ; but without routing them, however. He 
supposed they were going to fall back on Na- 
mur and Liege, and possibly to the Rhine (at 
right angles nearly to the Brussels road, and 
thus separating themselves more and more 
from Wellington), and left Grouchy, with 
thirty-three thousand men, to observe and han- 
dle them, while he himself, with the rest of 
his army, joined Ney at Quatrebras, June 17th. 
Ney had been slow in getting there on the 
i6th, or he would have overwhelmed the allies, 
who were only partly concentrated, and Wel- 
lington himself only just escaped capture after 
some desperate fighting there. The duke now 



6 Waterloo. 

withdrew everything to Waterloo, and decided 
to stand and fight there, if Bliicher would re- 
enforce him with "a single army corps." His 
reply was that he would come with his whole 
army ; "upon this understanding, however, that 
if the French do not attack us on the i8th, we 
shall attack them on the 19th." With this un- 
derstanding, then, Wellington halted at Water- 
loo, and prepared for action. 

In many respects Waterloo is indeed an ideal 
battlefield, and not unlike our own Gettysburg. 
It is easy to see why Wellington won, when 
one rides over the field. I never understood 
it before going there, and let me see if I can 
now make it plain to others. 

The English had much the advantage of po- 
sition, just as Meade had at Gettysburg. Wel- 
lington had marked it with his eagle eye and 
nose, over a year before, as a good place to 
fight, and his engineers had it well mapped out 
and ready for battle before Napoleon arrived 
there. The half-paved highways from Nivelles 
and Genappe, up which the French were ad- 
vancing, unite at the village of Mont St. Jean, 



Waterloo. 7 

a little hill only, whence the main road leads 
to Brussels. The whole country there is not 
a dead level, like so much of Belgium, but a 
series of waves and swells, with rocky crests 
and detached hills, especially on Wellington's 
side, affording every facility for concealing and 
protecting troops. Here, on the crest or ridge 
of a long swell, extending from La Hougomont 
(Hugo's Mont or Hill) on the right to Mont 
St. Jean on the left, a distance of two and a 
half miles or so, Wellington posted the Eng- 
lish army. Opposite, a mile or so away, on 
a much lower swell. Napoleon posted the 
French army. This was not unlike Meade and 
Lee at Gettysburg, on Cemetery Ridge and 
Seminary Ridge, respectively. Between was a 
considerable intervale, and, as Napoleon at- 
tacked, the French had first to march down 
and across, and then charge up, much as Lee 
had to do; and Wellington had only to stand 
still and hold fast, as Meade did, with La 
Hougomont and Mont St. Jean to help him, 
as Meade had Kulp's Hill and Little Round 
T*^ to help him. Mont St. Jean did not count 



8 Waterloo. 

for so much as Little Round Top, but La 
Hougomont proved another Kulp's Hill, and 
more, and one could well understand this when 
he saw what it was and is. 

La Hougomont is a solid and massive old 
chateau of brick and stone, built in the six- 
teenth or seventeenth century for defense, with 
numerous outbuildings, and a large yard and 
extensive garden, all inclosed by a high and 
substantial brick wall. There were more build- 
ings there then than now, and more places for 
shelter and defense. There is a high hedgerow 
before it now; but then there was also a con- 
siderable grove, since cut down. It has heavy 
wooden gates, secured by strong iron bars, 
that show marks of age and battle, but look 
good for another century or two. Inside is a 
great Belgian barn, of stone and brick, that is 
a real fortress of itself on a moderate scale. 
This was filled with sleek-looking horses and 
cows the day we were there, while outside were 
antique plows, harrows, carts, farm-wagons, 
etc. Also inside, just beyond the main en- 
trance, is a little brick chapel, with a rude altar 



Waterloo. 9 

at the farther end, surmounted by a carved 
wooden statue of St. Anne, with the child Christ 
in her arms. A ball knocked off his head dur- 
ing the battle, and his feet were charred by 
fire, but here the flames stopped. "A miracle," 
the Belgian peasants say ; but no mass has been 
said there since, several soldiers having been 
killed in the chapel. 

Here Wellington rested his right wing, as 
well he might — it was a miniature fort — after 
carefully loop-holing all its walls, and scaffold- 
ing them, so as to fire from the top as well as 
underneath — a double line of fire — and barri- 
cading every door and gate with wagons and 
carts. He posted four companies of his Eng- 
lish Guards here, the best troops he had, under 
splendid officers, re-enforcing them from time 
to time as needed, and planted artillery to com- 
mand all the approaches and also to command 
the place itself if surrounded by the enemy. 
It seems incredible, but this little English gar- 
rison — never over a thousand strong, if so 
many — here resisted the whole of Reille's 
corps, some twelve thousand strong, beating 



10 Waterloo. 

it back again and again, and holding La Hou- 
gomont to the last. The French did not know 
what it was. They thought it only a piece of 
woods, with a house or so in it, and butted their 
brains out against its massive brick and stone 
walls in vain. They attacked it furiously, bri- 
gade after brigade, but did it by piecemeal, and 
gained nothing. Prodigies of valor were per- 
formed here on both sides ; the French climb- 
ing over the walls, only to be shot or bayoneted 
as they leaped down on the inside, and the 
English fighting like bulldogs amidst fire and 
smoke, against overwhelming odds. The 
French early set fire to it ; but the English 
fought the flames and the French both. When 
the French swarmed around it too much, the 
English howitzers on the ridge above shelled 
and scattered them like chaff, and all day long 
the English never let go their bulldog grip 
here. Why the French did not bring up some 
of their splendid batteries and knock it to 
pieces, or make powder-bags and blow down 
its walls, is very surprising. But here was a 



Waterloo. i i 

fatality that, of itself, cost Napoleon the field ; 
and there were others. 

Farther down the English line, near the cen- 
ter of it, but somewhat to the front, is La Haye 
Sainte, a brick and stone farmhouse, with barns 
and outbuildings also, but with nothing like the 
strength of La Hougomont. Here Welling- 
ton also posted some good troops (King's Ger- 
man Legion), but the place was too far front 
for re-enforcing or supplying with ammunition, 
and. though gallantly defended, the French 
finally took and held it. Why they did not 
then bring up their artillery here and enfilade 
the British lines, raking them east and west to 
St. Jean and Hougomont, is another mystery, 
and must be counted as another fatality. One 
would suppose it would have been the first 
thing Napoleon would have thought of; but 
his mind may have been too much engrossed 
just then with the approach of Bliicher, and 
Ney overlooked or neglected it, as he did other 
things in that campaign. 

The two armies were pretty well matched as 



12 Waterloo. 

to numbers actually present on the field — Wel- 
lington 67,661 men, Napoleon 71,947. But 
Napoleon had two hundred and forty-six guns 
to Wellingon's only one hundred and fifty-six, 
and his cavalry was also superior. But, worst 
of all, Wellington had a heterogeneous army 
of English, Belgians, Hanoverians, Bruns- 
wickers, Germans, Nassauers, and Dutch, part 
of whom were disaffected, because formerly 
under Napoleon, and part poltroons. Of 
course his English troops were good, though 
in part raw recruits, his veterans of the Penin- 
sula being absent in America, paying their re- 
spects to Andrew Jackson at New Orleans. 
But of his army as a whole, Wellington after- 
wards said, "It was the worst I ever com- 
n^anded." No reliance could be placed on his 
Netherlanders, especially the Belgians. Early • 
in the battle they broke and fled from the field, 
amidst the jeers and execrations of their Eng- 
lish allies, and never returned, reporting at 
Brussels that the day was lost. Practically, 
therefore, Wellington was reduced to fifty 
thousand men, composed of four or five dif- 



Waterloo. 13 

ferent nationalities, of whom only about thirty 
thousand were really British. His generals, 
however, were good officers, many of them 
trained under his own eye, veterans of the 
Peninsula and India ; and he himself was in his 
military prime (forty-six years), confident of 
himself and eager to fight Napoleon. He had 
fought his best marshals in Spain and Portu- 
gal, and whipped them, and now was ready to 
tackle their chief also. On June 15th he had 
been at the famous ball of the Duchess of Rich- 
mond at Brussels, and there received his first 
news of Napoleon's advance on Belgium. 
"Bony has humbugged me and gained twenty- 
four hours march on me !" he said to the Duke 
of Richmond. But he immediately went to 
bed and slept six hours, and then mounted his 
horse and rode at speed to Quatrebras (twenty 
miles), where he arrived at 3 A. M., June i6th, 
and at daylight was at Bliicher's headquarters 
several more miles away, where he advised old 
"Marshal Forwarts" (he was seventy-two, and 
had been fifty years a soldier) to make some 
changes in his dispositions ; but he would not. 



14 Wateri^oo. 

and got well drubbed by Napoleon that day at 
Ligny accordingly. Wellington intended to 
concentrate at Ouatrebras, but found it too 
late, and so ordered everything back to Water- 
loo, or Mont St. Jean ; and here now he stood 
ready to receive battle, and to fight as man 
never fought before for "God and native land." 
Of course, he expected Bliicher to re-enforce 
him ; but until Bliicher came, or whether 
Bliicher came or not, he resolved to stand and 
fight it out, like the intrepid Englishman and 
heroic soul he was. 

On the other hand, the French army was 
homogeneous, all Frenchmen, and composed 
mainly of old and well-disciplined soldiers, ac- 
customed to act together and habituated to vic- 
tory. They were Napoleon's veterans, the vic- 
tors on a hundred battlefields. Over two hun- 
dred thousand French soldiers had got home 
from foreign prisons not long before, and here 
were Napoleon's pick of them, thirsting for 
revenge and glory again. His officers, also, 
were good, though his old marshals were 
mainly absent, only Soult and Ney present; 



Waterloo. 15 

Soult as chief of staff, and Ney second in com- 
mand. Grouchy was also along, but detached 
to watch the Prussians, with thirty-three thou- 
sand men, not included above, and never 
reached Waterloo. But Napoleon depended 
upon him, and had he divined Grouchy would 
never reach the field, evidently he would have 
fought the battle very differently, or not fought 
it at all. His old marshals had tired of fight- 
ing, and either remained at home or had taken 
"French leave," and gone abroad. Napoleon 
himself was then forty-five, and though claimed 
not to be himself as formerly, neither physic- 
ally nor mentally, yet clearly he showed no 
evidence of this in the pending campaign and 
battle. Both were admirably planned, and 
they worked out like clock-work up to certain 
points, and then went absolutely to pieces, as 
if struck by destiny. He left Paris June 12th, 
at 3.30 A. M., and rode day and night in his 
military carriage, until the evening of the 14th, 
when he neared Charleroi. On the 15th he 
mounted his horse, and rode from 3 A. M. to 
9 P. M., and then ate and slept until midnight, 



l6 WaTERIvOO. 

when he mounted again and rode along his 
Hnes, closely inspecting the enemy both on 
horseback and afoot without his staff (as was 
his custom, declining to endanger his staff offi- 
cers unnecessarily), and that day fought the 
Prussians at Ligny, winning a real victory, and 
effectually separating them from Wellington, 
as he supposed. He was in the saddle again 
all that day (i6th), and that night slept hard 
and late. On the 17th, it rained hard; but he 
duly mounted and rode eight or ten miles to 
La Belle Alliance, a little country tavern only, 
and here he established his headquarters, ready 
for battle next day at Waterloo. It rained hard 
all that afternoon and night, with much thun- 
der and lightning, but at I A. M. (i8th) he 
mounted and rode to the front, and rode and 
walked all along his picket-lines, as was his 
custom before battle, to assure himself that 
everything was in order and the enemy still 
there. At 2.30 A. M. he was near the wood 
of Hougomont, and then returned to La Belle 
AlHance. Soon afterwards a report reached 
him that the English were retiring, and he 



Waterloo. 17 

again mounted and rode two miles and a half 
through the rain and mud with one of his corps 
commanders (d'Erlon), intending to order in- 
stant pursuit if the report proved true, but a 
close inspection on foot showed they were still 
there, grouped about their camp-fires. At 8 
A. M. he mounted again and rode along his 
lines, and issued orders for his army to draw 
up in three lines ready for battle, but it did not 
cease raining until 9 A. M. It was 10.30 A. M. 
before his formation was completed, with bands 
playing, colors flying, and shouts of "Vive 
rEmperenr" from all parts of the field, in plain 
view of the English from their higher ground, 
and then (fatally) he still delayed his attack 
until I P. M., because of the softness of the 
ground. Above all else he was an artillery 
officer. He believed in cannon. He had won 
Austerlitz, Jena, Marengo, and his great vic- 
tories elsewhere, chiefly by cannon, and he did 
not want to go into action until he was sure of 
his guns. All this goes to prove that Napoleon 
was really himself at Waterloo, alert and vig- 
orous as usual, though older and fatter, and 



1 8 . Wateri.00. 

suffering at times from some bladder trouble. 
He believed his army superior to the English 
in both numbers and fighting capacity, and was 
confident of beating them, as he had beaten 
the Prussians at Ligny. He thought Grouchy 
would head off or stand oft" the Prussians, as 
Ney had stood off the English at Ouatrebras 
June 1 6th, and he meant to make quick work 
of Wellington, now that he had him at bay. 
He told Soult on the morning of the battle, 
that his chances were at least ninety out of one 
hundred ; that the duke was only "a Sepoy 
general," after all — referring to his campaigns 
in India — and that "this English general would 
have to have his lesson, as others had done, 
and he would give it to him before the day was 
over!" And so he boasted, French Corsican- 
like, while Wellington grimly sat still and bided 
his time ; his men well under cover, while the 
French were in plain view. 

The field has been described pretty well al- 
ready, but it may help to a clearer understand- 
ing of it if I say that it is well represented by 
the letter V, or better by an inverted letter A, 



Waterloo. 19 

thus "v" The right-hand stroke is the Ni- 
velles road ; the left the Genappe road. At the 
inverted apex is Mont St. Jean ; WelHngton 
is there. At the right foot is La Hougomont ; 
Reille's corps is there, with Jerome Bonaparte 
commanding one of his divisions. At the left 
is La Belle Alliance ; Napoleon is there. The 
cross-bar would be Wellington's line of battle 
substantially, with La Haye Sainte near the 
center, but somewhat in front. The triangle 
below the cross-bar would be the plateau of 
Mont St. Jean, commanding the road to Brus- 
sels, for which was the whole struggle. Who- 
ever occupied and held that was sure to have 
Brussels, and so Belgium, and so perhaps Eu- 
rope ; and hence the great combat. 

It was Sunday, and all the instincts of Wel- 
lington were against fighting on that day ; but 
there was no help for him. It was now well 
on towards noon, if not after (accounts differ 
as to the exact time, though the attack was 
ordered for i P. M.), when the battle opened 
by the advance of a part of Reille's corps 
(French left wing) under Jerome Bonaparte, 



20 Waterloo. 

a brother of Napoleon. Its skirmishers ad- 
vanced rapidly and attacked furiously, expect- 
ing to take La Hougomont by storm, but were 
bloodily repulsed. They soon returned to the 
assault with redoubled fury, and speedily 
forced their way up to and over the old brick 
walls in some instances ; but the British in- 
fantry and howitzers soon drove them out, 
or bayoneted them, and again they were com- 
pelled to retreat. This was only the beginning 
of reiterated assaults lasting all the afternoon, 
in which the French infantry literally swarmed 
about and over and through La Hougomont, 
but they could never take and permanently hold 
it. They battered down its gates and doors. 
They set fire to it. They drove its defenders 
from wall to wall, and room to room. They 
bespattered it with blood, and filled it with the 
dead and dying. But somehow Wellington 
always re-enforced it at the right moment, 
and his men held on with a dogged pluck and 
resolution characteristic of the race. Had the 
French once gained it, they would likely have 
gained the day also. But destiny or Provi- 



Waterloo. 21 

dence ordered otherwise. It was not unlike 
our first day at Gettysburg indeed. 

But this attack on La Hougomont was only 
meant as a feint. Napoleon never supposed 
it would take more than an hour or so, and 
would draw Wellington's attention away from 
his main attack. This was to be against the 
British left and center, at Mont St. Jean and 
La Haye Sainte, and was meant to carry the 
plateau and seize the main road to Brussels 
there. It was well planned, but indifferently 
executed, and only partially successful ; not 
unlike our second day at Gettysburg. It was 
ordered for i P. M., but did not begin until 
about 2 P. M. It was placed in charge of 
d'Erlon, his best corps commander, and aimed 
straight at the key of the English position 
there. He moved out with upwards of twenty 
thousand men, including cavalry, supported by 
seventy-eight guns, many of them twelve- 
pounders ; and it must have been a *'braw" 
sight and a "bonnie" spectacle, as the Scotch 
say. It was only six hundred yards or so to 
the English lines. The French artillery fired 



22 Waterloo. 

over their heads, as they crossed the intervale 
and began the ascent, and then ceased for fear 
of hitting their own men. The four divisions 
moved in four columns en echelon, with a front 
of about two hundred men each in forty ranks, 
five paces apart (practically a solid column), 
and promised great things, but proved un- 
wieldy and lacked mobility. When they got to 
the crest of the ridge the British, or allies, 
rose suddenly and attacked furiously at short 
range, with both infantry and artillery, as well 
as cavalry, and though a part of their line gave 
way (Netherlanders), yet the rest fought with 
great gallantry and intense fierceness. The 
charge of the British was irresistible, and soon 
the French were driven hotly back, with the 
loss of two eagles, fifteen guns, and thousands 
of prisoners, besides the killed and wounded. 
The three left columns, indeed, were forced 
back in great disorder, and the whole attack 
failed, though at one time it promised success. 
It broke the Dutch-Belgians, and indeed looked 
so promising for awhile that Napoleon, watch- 
ing it through his glass from La Belle Alii- 



Waterloo. 23 

ance, concluded it had succeeded, and at once 
dispatched a courier to Paris to announce his 
victory. But he did not know Wellington ; 
and Bliicher also was to be reckoned with. 

Shortly after d'Erlon moved out to his grand 
attack, a column of troops appeared on the 
heights of St. Lambert, far ofif on the French 
right. Soult thought them only a cloud at 
first. Napoleon took them for Grouchy, has- 
tening to his assistance, after fending off 
Bliicher, but soon discovered they were Prus- 
sians instead. They had to be looked to, as 
they menaced his right and rear, and so his 
communications, and he ordered the Sixteenth 
Corps to attend to them — about ten thousand 
men — and re-enforced them with six thousand 
more afterwards. He gave his own attention 
to this, as the most important item pending, 
and turned the battle in front over to Ney, as 
second in command. This was between 3 and 
4 P. M. Here was another fatality ; for though 
Ney was called "the bravest of the brave" — 
had four horses shot under him at Waterloo — 
yet he seemed disaffected or disobedient at 



24 Wate;ri.oo. 

Quatrebras, or incompetent, was too slow in 
getting up, and was never, indeed, accounted 
a great general ; lacked coolness and judgment. 
He was a cavalry officer per se, — brave but 
reckless, as Napoleon was an artillery officer; 
and he decided now to put in his cavalry and 
show the infantry how to do it. He did not 
order all in, but one division he meant to hold 
(Guyot's) went in with the rest, without 
orders, leaving him no reserves, and here was 
another fatality. 

He formed his four divisions — about four 
thousand men — into twenty-six squadrons, over 
half a mile long, and launched them as a solid 
column again against the English center and 
left, hoping to crush Wellington with the mere 
weight of his attack. It promised well. His 
artillery again opened fire over the heads of 
his advancing cavalry, and pounded the Eng- 
lish lines savagely ; but they had to cease firing 
as his cavalry ascended the slope, and here 
Wellington formed his infantry into squares, 
three lines deep ; front line kneeling with fixed 
bayonets, and the other two firing over their 



WaterivOo. 25 

heads, with his artillery in the center, firing 
from time to time, as the infantry opened ranks 
or lay down.* His artillery tore great gaps 
through the French cavalry ; but still they ad- 
vanced, and galloped round and round these 
British squares, hacking at the men with their 
sabers, and firing off their pistols and hurling 
them in their faces. But they did not break 
a single square ; and presently Wellington's 
cavalry, or what was left of it, charged them 
fiercely, and again the French were driven 
down the slope, and retired to their own side 
of the valley. Presently they tried it again 
with reiterated assaults and increased fury, and 
it seemed as if those English squares must 
break and crumble to pieces. But they did not. 
They took La Haye Sainte, indeed (the Eng- 
lish never recovered it), when its ammunition 
was exhausted and defenders all slain, fighting 
with clubbed muskets and bayonets to the last. 
But the Iron Duke still held fast. What was 



'•"Some of his artillery, indeed, remained outside his 
squares, and pounded the French as they advanced or retired, 
the gunners taking refuge within the squares, as necessary. 
But why the French did not spike or otherwise disable these 
outside guns, I do n't know. 



26 Waterloo. 

Ney to do now? His infantry and cavalry 
were both used up, had been recklessly wasted 
against Wellington's invulnerable lines, and 
he had no reserves left to fall back upon. At 
one time he had gained nearly half a mile of 
the English line, west of the Brussels pike; 
but Wellington had promptly brought up fresh 
troops, and restored it again. All day long 
the duke seemed gifted with ubiquity. He al- 
ways appeared on the field at the right moment, 
wherever he was most needed, and his pres- 
ence — cool, confident, determined — always 
turned the tide of battle. He never lost his 
head, and appeared everywhere as the incar- 
nation of English common sense and English 
bulldog courage — game all through. 

It was now well on to 7 P. M. Napoleon 
thought the Prussians' advance substantially 
checked, and turned his attention to Welling- 
ton again. The battle meanwhile had lulled 
since the repulse of the cavalry. He soon dis- 
covered Ney's plight, with his cavalry used 
up and gone by being launched obstinately and 
blindly against the British squares, and de- 



Waterloo. 27 

cided that the only thing left to do was to put 
in his Imperial Guard. Had he not had the 
Prussians to look after, he would have had six- 
teen thousand fresh troops to attack the British 
left, and Wellington would have been hard 
pressed indeed, if not beaten. As it v;as, he 
was pretty well used up, too ; but he had some 
fresh troops left, both cavalry and artillery, 
and above all was himself still plucky and reso- 
lute. Of course, he was eager for Bliicher to 
get up. But he meant to fight it out, whether 
Bliicher got up or not. The old story of his 
exclaiming, "Bliicher or night," is likely apoc- 
ryphal, as he was too good a soldier to allow 
such words to escape him on the battlefield. 
More likely he said, "Well, Bony, v/e 11 see 
which can pound the longest !" 

So Napoleon now ordered his Imperial 
Guard forward, as a dernier ressort, as I.,ee 
launched Pickett's division the last day at 
Gettysburg. He had kept most of it in reserve 
all day, back of La Belle Alliance, out of fire ; 
Ney not being allowed to use it. But he now 
ordered the whole of it forward, and as it 



28 Waterloo. 

passed his headquarters with shouts of "Vive 
TEmpereur!" bands playing and colors flying, 
he placed himself at its head, and led it down 
to where Ney was — just in front and south 
of La Haye Sainte — and after addressing it 
briefly turned it over to him. It consisted of 
infantry and artillery, about five thousand men, 
and was indeed the very flower of the French 
army, picked men, veterans of many a battle- 
field. In order to encourage them, he also 
ordered a report to be spread that Grouchy 
had arrived over on the right. Ney at once 
assumed command, and, placing himself at its 
head, marched straight for the British right 
center, between La Haye Sainte and La Hougo- 
mont. He had tried the left twice and the right 
repeatedly, and now essayed the right center, 
hoping for better fortune, not knowing Wel- 
lington had his reserves there. The column 
moved en echelon again, with a two company 
front, with ranks five paces apart, as before, 
with two batteries of horse artillery covering 
its left flank, while d'Erlon's corps, or what 
was left of it, covered its right flank. It moved 



Waterloo. 29 

diagonally across the field, at the pas de charge, 
hands playing and colors flying, with their huge 
bearskin caps, arms a-port, and officers in front 
waving their swords, while the French cannon 
again fired over their heads and pounded the 
English lines. The English artillery replied, 
plowing great lanes through the French ranks 
as they got nearer ; but still the column ad- 
vanced. Soon Ney's horse was shot under 
him, and he was given another, and that also 
was shot, and then he advanced on foot, en- 
couraging his men at every step ; and, notwith- 
standing death and destruction all about them, 
the Guards actually gained the slope and ad- 
vanced to the last ridge where the English lay 
concealed by growing wheat. The whole bat- 
tlefield, indeed, was covered with wheat, rye, 
barley, and cats. Here Wellington commanded 
in person, and when the head of the column 
was within fifty or sixty paces he suddenly 
opened on them with grape and cannister, while 
his whole line rose and poured their musketry 
fire into their very faces. The Guards halted 
instinctively, it was all so sudden, and the head 



30 Wateri^oo. 

of the column wavered and staggered, as if 
struck by a great flail. Then the rear ranks 
attempted to deploy into line, seeing the folly 
of their attack in column when every bullet 
killed half a dozen men and every cannon ball 
half a hundred, but only confusion resulted, 
of course. Then some unknown British officer, 
rising to the occasion, shouted out : "Now 's 
the time, boys, charge !" and the whole British 
line swept forward, pouring it into them both 
front and flank, and in spite of all Ney and his 
gallant officers could do, soon the Guards, out- 
numbered and dazed, recoiled, and then sul- 
lenly retreated, and ' presently crumbled to 
pieces — half panic-stricken or worse — leaving 
the ground heaped with their dead and dying. 
In trying to deploy, the French masked their 
own batteries — they could n't fire without hit- 
ting their own men — and so their protecting 
cannon were of no use to them. Ney tried to 
rally his men, as they drifted back, but failed ; 
and then, hatless, with waving sword, covered 
with mud and sweat and blood, he shouted out 
to d'Erlon, as he passed by: "Where are you 



Waterloo. 31 

going? Come and see how a marshal of 
France dies on the field of battle !" But he 
did not die there. His men pushed him into 
a square, to escape the British cavalry now in 
hot pursuit, and so he was swept ofif the battle- 
field, to be shot afterwards by the Bourbons, 
more shame to them. This was about 8 P. M. ; 
and now the whole of the allied line rose up 
by Wellington's orders, "Up, Guards, and ad- 
vance !" and, with himself among the foremost, 
charged down the heights, and across the inter- 
vale, and up the French slope, even to La Belle 
Alliance, sweeping all before them — as Meade 
should have done the last day at Gettysburg. 
It must have been a magnificent sight. But O, 
how tragic and pitiful ! 

Meanwhile the Prussians, instead of being 
checked as Napoleon supposed, massed more 
and more on the French right, and about 7.30 
P. M. (they had been slow in getting up), 
turned it, and began to open on their rear with 
forty-eight guns, the balls of which soon 
reached the Genappe road. Napoleon's main 
line of communications, spreading terror and 



32 Waterloo. 

confusion there. A few of the Prussians, in- 
deed, made the Enghsh left, and re-enforced 
it, where they were badly needed. Though 
stoutly resisted by the French, the Prussians 
nevertheless continued to advance, and when 
Napoleon saw the Imperial Guards repulsed 
and wrecked, he quickly comprehended all was 
over with him. His final order was, "Tout est 
perdu! Saiive qui pent!" — "All is lost! Save 
himself who can !" — and, placing himself in a 
passing square, he was also borne from the 
battlefield. The pursuit continued for five or 
six miles — the retreat degenerating into a rout 
— the French losing all semblance of an army 
even, and rushing pellmell back on Genappe, 
where the road crossed the river Dyle by a 
single bridge. This soon became choked with 
wagons and artillery, and here alone a hundred 
pieces of cannon were abandoned, together 
with Napoleon's military carriage, containing 
his maps, order-books, and correspondence. 
The next day Napoleon secured a horse, and 
with this rode on to Paris, whither the debris 
of his Grand Army presently followed him. 



Waterloo. 33 

The British were so exhausted they could not 
press the pursuit ; but the Prussians were com- 
paratively fresh, and Bliicher now took pleas- 
ure in getting even with Napoleon for worsting 
him at Ligny. Napoleon, in his Official Re- 
port, claimed that he "had gained the battle ;" 
that Wellington, of course, did not know when 
he was whipped; that "we occupied all the 
positions which the enemy occupied at the out- 
set of the battle;" that "the army saw with joy 
the battle gained and the field of battle in our 
power;" and that afterwards, without due 
cause, "a complete panic at once spread itself 
throughout the whole field of battle," and hence 
the unfortunate "issue of the battle of Mont 
St. Jean, glorious for the French armies, and 
yet so fatal." Of course, he knew better, but 
instinctively fibbed, after the Bonaparte nature. 
Now came "the Butcher's bill," and of course 
it was enormous — over fifty thousand men 
hors de combat. The total French loss was 
probably thirty thousand, besides two hundred 
and twenty-seven guns ; the English and Prus- 
sians twenty-three thousand one hundred and 
3 



L.oru 



34 Waterloo. 

eighty-five. At Gettysburg Lee lost twenty- 
seven thousand five hundred and twenty-five, 
and Meade twenty-three thousand and three. 
Their armies were about the same as Napo- 
leon's and Wellington's respectively ; so that the 
two battles were not unlike generally, and they 
were both soldiers' battles more than generals' 
battles. 

• Afterwards Wellington and Bliicher marched 
on to Paris at their leisure, and when they got 
there Bliicher wanted to hang or shoot Napol- 
eon as an outlaw and monster. But Welling- 
ton said. No; they were conquerors, not exe- 
cutioners; and it would not sound well in his- 
tory to dispose of him in that way, after 
triumphing at Waterloo. So Napoleon was 
sent to St. Helena instead, and he was left to 
fret his heart out in that island prison, the 
nineteenth century not knowing what better 
to do with the greatest prodigy our race has 
produced, after Alexander and Ceesar. Un- 
questionably he had more genius than Welling- 
ton; but Wellington excelled him in common 



Waterwo. 35 

sense and "dear grit," and so conquered at 
Waterloo. 

Napoleon himself was guilty of grave errors 
in the conduct of the battle, and, besides, seems 
to have been dogged by ill-luck or fatalities. 
The heavy rain that morning, and the night 
and day before, was against him ; he could not 
move his artillery. He went into action too 
late ; he should have attacked at 9 A. M. in- 
stead of I P. M. ; and then Bliicher would not 
have got up in time to trouble him. He trusted 
too much to Ney, and allowed him to waste 
both infantry and cavalry in reckless charges. 
He did not take sufficiently into account the 
steadiness and pluck of English soldiers. And 
then there was Hougomont besides. And he 
ought to have been himself at La Haye Sainte. 
Certainly he was rashly overconfident ; and 
Grouchy failed him miserably. Had Grouchy 
done his duty, all might have resulted differ- 
ently. His orders after Ligny were to follow 
up and watch the Prussians, Napoleon judg- 
ing they would fall back on Namur and Liege, 



36 Waterloo. 

away from Waterloo ; but when he found they 
were marching on Brussels, aiming to reach 
Waterloo, he should at once have "cut across 
lots," and got there first. Instead, he con- 
tinued "to follow" them, and fought a useless 
rear action at Wavre, when he should have 
marched to the sound of Napoleon's cannon. 
His second in command, Gerard, urged this 
upon him at 12.30 P. M., soon after Waterloo 
opened ; but, with blind obedience to his orders, 
he kept hammering away at the Prussian rear. 
At I P. M. Soult wrote him: "You will ma- 
neuver in our direction. . . . Be at hand 
to fall upon and destroy any enemy that may 
attempt to attack our right. . . . Maneu- 
ver to join our right, without loss of time." 
Precisely what he ought to have done without 
orders ; but he did not get Soult's order until 
7 P. M., and it was then too late. Waterloo 
, was practically over, and Grouchy, with thirty- 
three thousand men, twelve or fifteen miles 
away. Unquestionably he was either indiffer- 
ent or incompetent ; perhaps both. If it be 
said Napoleon erred in not giving him more 



Waterloo. ' 37 

precise orders, and that he should have kept 
him better informed as to what was happening 
at Waterloo, the answer is, he trusted to his 
good sense and sound military judgment, as 
he had a right to do, if fit for such a weighty 
command. 

Wellington was at fault in not concentrating 
at Ouatrebras in time ; he was caught napping, 
and barely escaped ruin there. But this was 
his last mistake. His dispositions and condupt 
at Waterloo were faultless. If it be said that 
he erred in losing La Haye Sainte, the answer 
is, he could not hold it ; and also, that he ought 
to have retaken it, the like answer is, he was 
not able to do so. He had a "big job of work" 
on hand as it was, and it taxed him to the ut- 
most. He was wary and cool from the outset, 
and, of course, he knew every hour's delay by 
Napoleon was in his favor, as it increased the 
chances of the Prussians getting up. They 
were certainly dilatory ; but they felt a little 
cross at Wellington for not coming to their 
help at Ligny, not knowing he could not, the 
French having intervened ; and, besides, the 



38 Waterloo. 

roads were so soft and miry it was almost im- 
possible to march at all. The soldiers were 
continually wanting to halt. But Bliicher's 
constant order was : "Forward ! I have given 
my word to Wellington, and you must help 
me keep it !" It was 4.30 P. M. when the first 
Prussian battery opened its fire. By 6 P. M. 
they had forty-eight guns in action. By 7 
P. M. they were heavily engaged, and undoubt- 
edly did much to save the day. In his official 
report, Wellington says he "attributed the suc- 
cessful issue of the battle to the cordial and 
timely assistance of the Prussians," so that 
they are entitled to their fair share of credit. 
But unquestionably it was the English (and 
their allies) who did the heavy fighting, and 
I am incHned to think that Wellington would 
have whipped, anyhow, without the Prussians. 
He had eighteen thousand good soldiers back 
at Hal and Tubize — not far from Waterloo, 
some nine or ten miles — whom he never 
brought up, holding them in reserve in case 
Napoleon took La Hougomont and turned his 
right, and this does not look as if he needed 



Waterloo. 39 

Bliicher at all. Of course, it was very nice to 
have Bliicher handy ; but it looks as if Wel- 
lington went in to win, with or without the 
Prussians. There is a story, told with great 
circumstantiality, of Wellington's riding se- 
cretly over to Wavre, with a single orderly, 
the night before the battle, to see Bliicher 
again, and make sure of his co-operation ; but 
the duke always laughingly denied it. 

There does not seem to be much in Victor 
Hugo's elaborate account in "Les Miserables" 
of a sunken road near the English line, con- 
cealed from the French cavalry, and into which 
they rode helter-skelter, like Western bufifaloes, 
one rank riding over another, until it was filled 
up with the dead and dying. Certainly there is 
no such road there now that amounts to much, 
and it does not seem as if there ever was. It is 
pure imagination of the great French poet and 
novelist mainly. 

But Hugo is right when he says that Water- 
loo turned largely upon accidents and fatal- 
ities ; that they were all against Napoleon ; that 
he had "vexed God," and his time had come. 



40 ' ■ ' WaterIvOO. ■ 

"Waterloo," he says, "is not a battle; it is the 
change of front of the universe." The nine- 
teenth century was above the horizon, and its 
whole stream and tendency were against the 
Idee Napoleon. "It was not Wellington who 
won at Waterloo," he says, "but England and 
English soldiers." 



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